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Saturday, November 10, 2012

Food Storage Ideas for Fresh Food Lovers

I received this question from Blythe on a
previous post and thought I would take a minute to answer her! Blythe said,

“I do a lot of fresh cooking, but because of the nature of fresh
cooking, my food storage suffers. How do you do nutritious meals while keeping
a solid food storage?”

Blythe –

First of all, before I answer your question I just want to
briefly mention the importance of food storage to
those who may not have considered it much before. No one would question the common sense of saving money for a rainy day, neither should we question the
wisdom of storing extra food for the same reason. Natural disasters like
Hurricane Sandy are a perfect example of why storing extra food for your family
could be helpful! Also, economic conditions (like the one we currently find
ourselves in) with the inflation of food prices, make storing food more and
more urgent. Also, you never know when you or your spouse might lose a job, or
when your income might drop. One thing is for sure though, if you are well-prepared
for difficult times – the last thing you will have to worry about, is being
able to feed your family. And in prosperous times? You’ll have the additional benefit of peace
that preparation brings. Now on to the question!

I also enjoy cooking with fresh food.I realize that canned food is less nutritious
than fresh, and freezing can also slightly decrease the nutritional content of
food. However – I personally still use those two methods of food storage
around my house for some of my short term food storage. I always keep canned fruits and
veggies around. I use my canned veggies wherever I see an opportunity to add additional veggies to a meal, or canned fruit as a side if I feel the meal
needs something more. I especially use my canned food on tighter weeks to make it through on budget.

I would recommend that the canned food you do use on
occasion, you buy in bulk when on sale. I also recommend you make double
batches of meals that freeze well, and freeze them. So much more healthy than freezer food from the store! I always have several weeks
of previously freshly-prepared meals stored in my freezer. (Especially now, as
I’m prepping to have this baby and am sure I won’t want to cook for while!)

But, let me give you a few ideas to boost your short and
long term food storage, if you are a fresh food lover.

Go big on your short term storage:

Buy your rice, flour, hard wheat, beans, and
sugar in 25lb. bags from Costco. Also, stock up on your favorite pasta when it
is on sale. Store all of this food in buckets with Gamma
lids – the pasta too! This will keep them from becoming bug infested. You
can buy 5-gallon
buckets fairly cheaply at your local Home Depot. If you live in Utah,
Macey’s grocery store always has awesome deals on food storage buckets.

For yeast, I always buy the 2lb. bag of Red Star
Active Dry Yeast and store it in my freezer so the yeast keeps longer. This has
been very effective for me. I have kept yeast for about a year without noticing
it losing its proofing power this way.

I also buy butter from Costco and freeze it.
Buttermilk freezes well. Regular milk - does NOT. Baking soda and baking powder can also keep longer by
being frozen – but make sure they are stored in airtight containers and that
they don’t get damp! Freeze fresh strawberries or other berries if you won’t be
able to eat them before they go bad.

For fruits and veggies:

My number one recommendation for keeping long
term food storage well-supplemented with fruits and veggies that will have the
same nutritional content as fresh, is to buy freeze-dried fruits and vegetables.
I personally love and have THRIVE
fruits and vegetables in my stash. Most of them last for 25 years if stored
properly. The cans are light since they have no water content. The food re-hydrates
very well and tastes awesome. I recommend you host a home party with a
consultant to try it for yourself and to get some sweet discounts on your
order.

Shorter term storage? Grow a garden in your
backyard. If you can, grow your own fruit trees! Can what you won’t eat, to be able to enjoy your fresh fruits and
veggies throughout the year.

These aren’t fruits and veggies, but since I
mentioned gardening – make sure to grow your own fresh herbs!

Can and store a large variety of seeds as part
of your longer term emergency food storage.

For Bread and Grain Items:

Buy a quality wheat grinder. And then buy canned
rice, oats, and wheat in bulk through the LDS
cannery near you. All of these keep for 30+ years if they are canned and
stored properly (at or below 75*F). If you
have a wheat grinder, you can use it to grind up rice, oatmeal, or other grains
for cereal for baby food storage. Also, the nutritional value and taste of
freshly ground wheat in homemade bread?! Incredible.

If you want super fresh yeast, get and keep a
living yeast starter going. If you feed and care for your starter, you can have
fresh yeast indefinitely. From what I have read this is healthier than using
dry active yeasts. I thought I would tackle keeping a starter alive for our
family this year, but it looks like that won’t be happening in 2012. Eventually
we’ll get there – one goal at a time right?

For eggs:

The best way to keep fresh eggs?! Keep chickens! You can’t beat the fresh taste or nutrition of free range chickens’ eggs (or
chicken for that matter!) Someday I will have my own land and my own happy chickens! Until then, I will just dream and live vicariously through the blogs of homesteaders.

For meat:

To help you with shorter term storage, I totally
recommend buying your meat in bulk through Zaycon foods. The
quality, taste, and price cannot be beat. No hormones or extra junk. They never
freeze their meat either. Once you purchase the meat from them, you can freeze
it yourself in high quality freezer bags and fill up your chest freezer. (I
totally recommend getting a chest freezer if you don’t already have one.) We
bought one case of chicken from Zaycon early this Summer,
and we are still working on it. It is great. (P.S. Those links to Zaycon are my personal referral links. Feel free to use them if you like.) :)

THRIVE also sells some very
delicious freeze-dried meat that lasts for many many years.

And of course, you can always keep and slaughter
your own animals if you have the land and interest in doing that! Or you
can go hunting in the wild. For now, I’m content just getting my meat from Zaycon. Haha.
;)

P.S. Don’t forget:

Store water! Water is an essential emergency food
storage component. You can easily work on building your water supply by simply
filling up and storing empty juice, soda, and water bottles. You can also
purchase larger jugs or drums for storing water as well.

All you fresh food lovers out
there – how do you build up your food storage in a way that is compatible with
your desire for fresh food?

2 comments:

I hope it's alright if I give a little plug for Shelf Reliance, which carries the THRIVE line of food. I have been a consultant for almost two years now and it has given me plenty of time to work with the different ingredients and try it in various recipes. I honestly love this food! Everyone is always very impressed when I do a food demo and have a chance to rehydrate and try and use the products. It's amazing the incredible product line we carry, and the different ways we are constantly revamping our product line. FOR INSTANCE- we just became Gluten Free certified, and plan on carrying an organic line by next year as well. It seems there are always new products being added to our product line. This last month they introduced Freeze Dried asparagus, honey crystals, Freeze dried green onions, and Instant brown rice. What I love most about the products, is that it has all the nutrition, with no added preservatives, and a sealed shelf life of up to 25 years, I use the powdered eggs in all my baking. Since the eggs are freeze dried they are already airaded and make for fluffy baked goods. If you like scrambled eggs, they have a product for that too! You really won't believe it until you see it and taste it. If you are interested or have questions in any particular products and would like a discount let me know! I can even beat Costco prices... And you know if Costco sells it, that means something!jamie.seedall@gmail.com

Jami-Great post. My husband and I have just started talking about getting some land so that we can keep a cow and some chickens for milk and eggs. We are just starting to freeze big meals, too. Thanks for the resources :)